England in Egypt

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VALLEY OF THE NILE.

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ENGLAND IN EGYPT

GEORGE MAKEPEACE TOWLE

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AUTHOR OF "ENGLAND AND RUSSIA IN ASIA," "MODERN
GREECE," ETC.

U '^'

BOSTON

TICKNOR AND COMPANY

1886

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Copyright, 18S5
By TICKNOR AND COMPANY.

A/l rights reserved

PRESS OF

ROCKWELL AND CHURCHILL

BOSTON

PREFACE.

The interference of England in the affairs
of Egypt, and the results which have flowed
therefrom, have for several years attracted the
world's attention by a succession of striking and
often thrilling and dramatic events. To those
who study those events, even superficially, a
distinct connection will appear between the
establishment by England of a dominant influ-
ence in Egypt, and the attitude of England
towards Russia in the East. Both are parts of
the historic and constantly recurring Eastern
Question. Had not Russian aggression in the
East threatened Constantinople and India, it is
scarcely conceivable that England would ever
have deeply concerned herself in the affairs of

Egypt.

This volume aims to present in a clear light

4 PREFACE.

the history of Egypt during the last seventy
years ; the present internal condition of the
country ; the conquest and character of the
region of the Soudan; the rise of the "False
Prophet ; " the reasons for which and the proc-
esses by which English influence in Egypt has
been acquired ; and the events, both in Egypt
and in the Soudan, which have taken place
as a consequence of English interference.

G. M. T.
Boston, October, 1885.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

I. Modern Egypt ... 9

II. The Suez Canal 30

III. The Government, People and Resources

OF Egypt 41

IV. The Soudan 55

V. El Mahdi, the "False Prophet" ... 62

VI. England in Egypt and the Soudan ... 74

LIST OF MAPS.

VALLEY OF THE NILE Frontispiece

FORTRESS OF THE SOUDAN . facing page 58
KHARTOUM AND ENVIRONS . - « « 84

ENGLAND IN EGYPT.

I.

MODERN EGYPT.

The history of modern Egypt began with
the foundation of the semi-feudal dynasty of
the present reigning house by Mehemet Ali,
in 1811. For three centuries Egypt had been
under the rule of the Sultans of Turkey, and
had received its governors from Constanti-
nople. Yet even before the rise of Mehemet
Ali, the authority of the Sultans in the land
of the Nile had not been absolute. It had
always been more or less modified by the great
Egyptian military caste, which while con-
ceding the feudal dependence of Egypt on

lO ENGLAND IN EGYPT.

Turkey, maintained the government of the
Mamlouk chiefs. The virtual ruler of Egypt
vs^as a native Bey, chosen by Beys. It w^as he
who levied 'taxes, kept up a military force,
coined money, and performed other acts of
local sovereignty. The principal visible sign
of Turkish ascendency appeared in the annual
tribute which was paid by Egypt into the
coffers of the Sultan.

Revolts to throw off the Turkish yoke alto-
gether had taken place before that which, under
Mehemet Ali, conferred upon Egypt a virtual
though not as yet an acknowledged indepen-
dence. These former revolts had not prevailed ;
but thtf hold of the Sultans had always been
too weak to enable them to punish or degrade
the revolting Beys. The invasion of Egypt
by Napoleon well-nigh destroyed all semblance
of Turkish authority on the Nile, which was
only restored by the subsequent naval triumphs
of England ; always, for her own reasons, the
prop and protector of the Turk. Yet even
after Nelson had turned the tide of war in the
Mediterranean at Trafalgar, the Beys were

ENGLAND IN EGYPT, II

strong enough to depose, and even on one
occasion to execute, the viceroys sent by the Sul-
tan to rule over his uncomfortable dependency.

Mehemet Ali, who in the history of Eastern
politics holds a rank of the first magnitude
as a warrior and a statesman, and to whose
genius Egypt owes at least a far higher posi-
tion among the nations than ever since the
time of her ancient splendor and power, was
by birth a Macedonian, and by profession a
soldier in the armies of the Sultan. He was
as much a foreigner in Egypt as any Turkish
viceroy. At the age of thirty-seven he had
already won high military rank by reason of
his extraordinary capacity, and found himself
holding an important command in Egypt. Al-
though he had fought vigorously against the
disloyal Beys, he contrived to vs^in the respect
and even the affection of the Egyptians. Sud-
denly he was proclaimed viceroy by the native
chiefs at Cairo ; and so feeble at this time
was the Sultan's grasp on Egypt, that he actu-
ally withdrew his own viceroy, and acknowl-
edged Mehemet Ali in his stead.

12 ENGLAND IN EGYPT.

No sooner had Mehemet AH found himself
in power than he set about building up a
strong nationality. He suppressed the military
aristocracy of the Mamlouks, which struggled
against his promotion ; he reorganized the
Egyptian forces ; he conquered Syria ; and he
compelled Turkey to acknowledge by treaty
his sovereignty, subject to feudal tribute, over
Egypt and its recent acquisitions. So aggres-
sive indeed became Mehemet All's military
aspirations, that he is believed to have cher-
ished an ambition to conquer European Tur-
key itself. In a brief war with the Sultan,
Mehemet's son, Ibrahim Pasha, completely
defeated *he Turkish forces. Europe, alarmed
lest Constantinople itself should be attacked,
intervened in the humiliated Sultan's favor.
An English fleet proceeded to the Eastern
waters ; Mehemet All's victorious progress
was checked, and Syria was restored to the
Sultan.

But Mehemet Ali gained one important
advantage from this international interference.
By a treaty, of which the signatories were

ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 13

Turkey, England, Russia and Austria, con-
cluded in 1840, his right to Egyptian sover-
eignty was acknowledged, and this was declared
hereditary in his family. The principal re-
strictions imposed by this treaty on the vice-
roy were, that he should pay a large annual
tribute to the Porte ; that his army should
not be increased beyond a certain stated limit ;
and that he should hold no direct diplomatic
relations with other powers. Mehemet Ali
was wise and shrewd enough to accept this
settlement in good faith. He had won the
sanction of the great powers to his viceregal
powers ; he had shown the Sultan that his
military prowess was not to be despised ; and
he had long subdued all serious opposition
to his rule among the Egyptians themselves.
He now directed his great abilities ex-
clusively to the reorganization of Egypt as
a State, and here his remarkable administra-
tive genius found abundant scope. The
system of Egyptian government which exists
to-day was in the main Mehemet All's
creation and handiwork ; and, debased as

14 ENGLAND IN EGYPT.

Egypt is beneath the autocratic control of
the foreigner, there are many traces through
its present administrative constitution of a
master-hand in State craft. It is declared,
on high authority, to be "incomparably the
most civilized and efficient of existing Mus-
sulman governments." Many abuses of cen-
turies' growth and standing were abolished ;
order was imparted to the official services ;
education was somew^hat promoted ; the finances
were placed on a sounder basis, and the in-
dustries of Egypt were diligently fostered by
this able sovereign.

Mehemet Ali died in his eightieth year,
in 1848. • His successors for the most part
continued his policy of internal reform and
constructive energy. He was succeeded by
his warlike son Ibrahim, whose reign, how-
ever, only lasted four months. Ibrahim was
succeeded by his nephew, Abbas, the least
worthy of Mehemet's successors. Abbas was
weak, dissolute and unambitious, and for-
tunately his rule was also brief. He died
in 1854, giving place to Said Pasha, Mehemet

ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 1 5

All's third son. At this time the order of
succession to the Egyptian throne, like that in
Turkey, was that the eldest male of the reign-
ing family, and not necessarily the eldest son,
succeeded. Said Pasha was altogether superior
to Abbas. He did much to repair the in-
juries in the State which the weakness and
selfishness of Abbas had inflicted. But Said
was wanting in the vigorous will of his
father; and during the nine years of his
reign Egypt made but slow progress in
civil and political development.

Said's successor was Ismail Pasha, son
of the viceroy Ibrahim, and grandson of
Mehemet Ali. Ismail reigned from 1863 to
1879. It was during the sixteen years of his
rule that the circumstances arose which brought
foreign interference upon Egypt. Ismail
was a singular combination of energy, ex-
travagance, cruelty and self-indulgence. In
many ways he certainly advanced the material
interests of Egypt ; but the general result of
his rule was to plunge Egypt into an in-
debtedness which formed the pretext for for-

i6 ENGLAND IN EGYPT,

eign interference, and to reduce his dynasty
to vassalage to England. Ismail was a man
of European education and experience. He
had studied long in Paris, and when as a
young man he returned from France to
Egypt, he was probably the most cultivated
person in the kingdom. Under his uncle
Said he filled some of the highest offices
of the State, and conducted a campaign in
the Soudan with success and honor.

No sooner had he become viceroy than
his executive ability and vigor became ap-
parent. The result of the exercise of these
qualities soon appeared in the prosecution
and completion of great public works, the
expansion of the Egyptian revenues, and the
revival of Egyptian commerce. He seemed
determined to confer upon his country all
the material benefits of European civilization.
Canals, railways, docks, harbors and tele-
graphs were created with magical rapidity.
The viceroy personally directed these im-
provements, and was noted for the assiduity
with which he devoted himself to his officiaf

ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 1 7

labors. He was, moreover, one of the most
suave and accessible of men. Yet his rule
was in many respects harsh, despotic, and
cruel. He ground down his people with
oppressive taxes, and amassed for himself a
colossal fortune from their toil. The leading
features of his reign may be briefly re-
viewed.

In 1866, by means of a heavy bribe,
Ismail persuaded the Sultan to grant him
the title of Khidiv-el-Misr (King of Egypt) ;
which caused the Egyptian sovereign to be
usually called " the Khedive." But the Sul-
tan's concessions did not end with the royal
title. He also changed the order of Egyptian
succession, which he ordained should descend
no longer to the nearest male relative, but
to the eldest son of the last Khedive. Thus
the Egyptian law of succession was con-
formed to that of the European powers. In
return for these concessions the annual trib-
ute from Egypt to the Sultan was raised
from $1,880,000 to $3,600,000. Another
bribe, offered and accepted nine years later,

IQ ENGLAND IN EGYPT.

induced the Sultan to grant the Khedive the
right, hitherto forbidden, to send envoys to
foreign courts, and to maintain an inde-
pendent Egyptian army. Thus the ties be-
tween Egypt and Turkey were considerably
loosened, and the Khedive began to feel
himself to be a true sovereign.

The finances of Egypt, under Ismail's ex-
travagant rule, became more and more in-
volved, as he himself became richer, and
as the vast public works which he under-
took proceeded to completion. By a habit
of almost constant and reckless borrowing
Ismail piled the debt of Egypt to stupen-
dous figures. When he came to the Khe-
divate that debt amounted to only about
$16,000,000. In the last year of his reign
it was not far from $400,000,000. It is not
easy to say how much the debt is now
(1885) 5 ^^^ ^^ certainly exceeds the latter
figures. This indebtedness, it need scarcely
be said, mainly took the form of bonds,
which were placed on the European markets.
The loans thus created, therefore, established

ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 1 9

the creditors of Egypt in almost every Euro-
pean country, but principally in England and
in France. Of course in each case that a
loan was made, Egypt was compelled to
pay a higher interest, and to accept less
than the nominal amount of the loan.

A few examples of these loans may make the
desperate financial situation at which Egypt
arrived under Ismail more ctear. The connec-
tion of Egypt with the Suez canal, and the
financial complications arising therefrom, must
be reserved for a separate chapter on that great
work. In Ismail's first year he effected a loan
of $28,000,000, at 7 per cent. ; but he only re-
ceived $34,400,000. Two years later he effected
a loan for $15,000,000, to complete the Alex-
andria and Suez railway, at 8 per cent., re-
ceiving however only $13,000,000. In 1868 he
effected a loan of $59,500,000, v^hich cost him
a yearly interest of 13^ per cent., and yielded
him in actual cash only $36,000,000. This
loan was intended to relieve the congested
floating debt, and to finish certain public works
under way. By 1873, ten years after Ismail's

20. ENGLAND IN EGYPT.

succession, the unfunded liabilities of Egypt
had reached the sum of $130,000,000, for
which Egypt had to pay an average annual
interest of no less than 14 per cent.

Five of Ismail's extravagant loans, which
nominally footed up $279,000,000, had only
brought him, in actual cash, $175,000,000; but
he had to pay interest on the larger sum. Nor
were these public debts the only debts contracted
by this magnificently lavish prince. He had
also hypothecated his private estates, which
are known in Egypt as the " dai'ra," to the lips.
These estates comprised over 400,000 acres of
arable land, besides a large number of sugar
and otliej: factories. Ismail erected factories on
his estates during his reign which cost at least
$30,000,000. With the properties of his es-
tates and his civil list, which was also at his
personal disposal, his income was something
like $2,550,000. A succession of loans on the
" dai'ra" loaded it, as the national treasury had
been loaded, with a debt of $45,000,000.

In 1875 the finances of Egypt were tempo-
rarily relieved by the sale of the Khedive's

ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 21

shares in the Suez canal to the British gov-
ernment. By this dramatic operation of Lord
Beaconsfield, then Premier, the Egyptian treas-
ury received the sum of $19,882,915. The
crisis of insolvency was delayed, not averted.
The time had now arrived for the beginning
of European intervention in the affairs of
Egypt. The creditors of Egypt became
alarmed, then clamorous. It may be that the
two powers chiefly interested in Egyptian
finances — England and France — saw a politi-
cal as well as a financial advantage in the
necessity for securing the interest on the loans
to their subjects who were Egyptian creditors.
At all events, the payment of that interest had
become a grave subject of inquiry and of
doubt ; and whether the interference was merely
a pretext for subsequent political control, or
whether it was a bona-Jide attempt to secure
Egypt's creditors, it v^as entered upon, and has
steadily continued to the present day.

The first step in the direction of foreign in-
terference was taken by Ismail himself. Egypt
was on the verge of brankruptcy, and he felt

22 ENGLAND IN EGYPT.

compelled to call in outside assistance. Ac-
cordingly he asked the British government to
send two financial experts to Cairo, to examine
into and effect a reform in the financial system
of his kingdom. The result was, that Mr.
Stephen Cave, M.P., arrived at Cairo late in
1875. His instructions were to investigate
Egyptian finances and report thereon to the
English authorities. Mr. Cave spent two
months on his task, and then submitted his
report. He declared that the Egyptian treas-
ury was solvent, and made certain recom-
mendations, which need not be here described,
by which its bankruptcy might be averted.

Mr. (^ave, however, was an investigating
agent only, and was not armed with diplomatic
powers. So in the summer of 1876, Mr.
George J. Goschen, M.P., was sent to Cairo,
to negotiate with the Khedive some method
by which the financial difficulty might be
solved. The French creditors of Egypt had
now become actively interested in the subject,
and had already proposed an abortive scheme
to the Khedive. It was deemed best by Eng-

« >

ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 23

land and France that they should cooperate in
bringing about a reform in Egyptian finance.
To Mr. Goschen, therefore, was joined M.
Joubert, as representing French interests.
These joint envoys finally agreed upon a
scheme completely reorganizing the condi-
tions of the Egyptian debt, considerably redu-
cing its sum total, its rate of redemption, and
the amounts of interest to be paid. To this
scheme the Khedive reluctantly assented ; and
it became the lav\^ of Egypt by his decree.

The inevitable result of the adoption of the
Goschen-Joubert scheme v^as the establish-
ment of a joint English and French financial
control in Egypt. It became necessary that
the powers should secure some stronger guaran-
tee than the Khedive's consent that the scheme
would be carried out in good faith. What has
since been called the "dual control" speedily
followed. A joint English and French admin-
istration of finance was established in 1877
at Cairo. At its head were two " Controllers-
General," one English and one French. To
one of these was assigned the power and duty to

24 ENGLAND IN EGYPT.

collect the revenues of Egypt, and to distribute
the collected revenue among the several depart-
ments. The other had charge of the audit of
the treasury, and of the public debt. Both
were invested v^ith well-nigh absolute author-
ity in these functions. The Controller-Gen-
eral of Receipts exercised full powers over the
tax collectors. No tax could be levied without
the approval of his signature. The Controller-
General of Audit had full power over the treas-
ury accounts and those of the public offices.
No departmental checks or orders for payment
were valid unless countersigned by him.

The appointment of the Controllers-General
was foil a period of five years. They were
directly responsible to the Khedive. They
were a committee, acting in cooperation with
the finance minister, to decide upon all the
larger governmental contracts. They were sup-
plied with ample subsidiary machinery for
carrying out their task. Two sub-commissions,
one of the public debt, and the other of the
railways and the port of Alexandria, were
included in the scheme. The first of these sub-

ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 25

commissions was composed entirely of English-
men and Frenchmen, and was intrusted with
receiving and paying into the Bank of England
the revenue for paying the debt annuities. The
second of the sub-commissions comprised two
Egyptian, one French, and two English mem-
bers, and had in charge the receiving and pay-
ing over of the revenues derived from the rail-
ways and the Alexandria port receipts. The
dual control, thus set up at Cairo, in spite of all
the guarantees and safeguards by which it was
hedged about, was short-lived. It had not been
in operation two years before it became evident
that Ismail Pasha himself was tired of the
arrangement, and restive under the restrictions
of foreign surveillance. Egyptian statesmen,
and certain sections of the Egyptian people,
became hostile to the interference imposed by the
powers. Financial control necessarily involved,
to a greater or less extent, control over the
political affairs of the Khedivate also. A grow-
ing feeling of jealousy grew up throughout
the native administration. Something like a
patriotic party was formed.

26 ENGLAND IN EGYPT.

It Is declared by some that this unfriendly
sentiment towards the control was manufactured
by Ismail himself, in order to afford him an
excuse for retreating from his engagements.
Others say that he was forced by the threat of
revolution to take the course he did. It is
likely enough that each of these opinions is a
half truth. Ismail did not discourage the
growth of a patriotic party, and was probably
glad that its rise should afford him a pretext to
relieve himself of the restraints of the foreigner.
At all events, in the spring of 1879 he issued a
decree abolishing the control, and resuming the
native management of the finances. Nubar
Pasha, liis premier, a Christian and a friend of
the Anglo-French policy, resigned office and
left Egypt.

But now Ismail found himself face to face
with the great powers of Europe. Prince Bis-
marck, speaking with the might of Germany at
his back, protested against the Khedive's course,
and instigated the Sultan, still nominally the
master of Egypt, to bring pressure upon the
Khedive. The next event was the sudden depo-

ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 27

sition and banishment of Ismail Pasha. This
was brought about, with the approval and
cooperation of Bismarck, by the influence of
England and France. In his place his eldest
son, Tewfik Pasha, was installed as Khedive of
Egypt ; and, from that day to this, Tewfik has
remained unresistingly under the control of
England. The dual control was restored, with
enlarged powers. The supervision of the Con-
trollers-General now extended beyond the region
of finance into that of the general political
condition of the kingdom. This restored and
enlarged control was established by a decree
of Tewfik in November, 1879.

The fresh arrangement lasted, with more or
less friction, about two years and a half. The
new Khedive proved to be weak, vacillating,
timorous, easily swayed and cravenly submis-
sive to his European masters. No doubt the
financial and material condition of Egypt was
somewhat improved. On the other hand, the
Egyptians felt more and more keenly the press-
ure and the humiliation of foreign interference.
As time advanced, the symptoms of grave dis-

28 ENGLAND IN EGYPT.

content became more apparent. The army was
now honeycombed with disaffection. Its officers
were ahnost to a man hostile to the control, and
Tewfik was despised and detested by the over-
whelming majority of his subjects.

In the summer of 1882 the revolt in the army
against the control grew ripe. At the head of
the rebellious soldiery was Arabi Pasha, the
Minister of War. Arabi was an able soldier, a
statesman of proved ability, and a patriot whose
sincerity it is difficult to doubt. At last he put
himself at the front of the national cause. He
virtually made Tewfik a prisoner in his palace,
and took possession of Alexandria with the
troops. England now took prompt action. She
proposed to France a joint expedition to put
down the military insurrection. France refused,
withdrew from further active interference in
Egyptian affairs, and thenceforth continued iso-
lated therefrom. England assumed the task
alone, and thus acquired the sole responsibility
of control in Egypt which she has ever since
retained.

The British war fleet was sent to Alexandria ;

ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 29

and that ancient city was bombarded, almost
destroyed, and taken from the insurgents. A
fire broke out, which completed the destruction
begun by the bombs of the "Invincible" and
the "Inflexible." Arabi retreated in good
order. But the English were prompt in his
pursuit. A well-appointed army under Sir
Garnet Wolseley encountered the rebel force at
Tel-el-Kebir, not far from Cairo, completely
defeated Arabi, destroyed the fl,ower of the
Egyptian army, and returned in triumph with
Arabi as prisoner. Arabi was tried for high
treason and condemned to death. But the
English government interposed, and the rebel
chiet's sentence was commuted to exile for life.
He was sent to Ceylon, where he is still virtually
an English prisoner. From the time of the
battle of Tel-el-Kebir England became prac-
tically the sole mistress of Egypt; and the
account of the later events under her rule will
be given in a subsequent chapter.

30 ENGLAND IN EGYPT.

n.

THE SUEZ CANAL.

The successful construction of the Suez canal
materially modified the politics of Europe,
changed both the internal and the external
status of Egypt, and gave a new channel of
transit to the commerce between Europe and
Asia. It substituted for the long water way
around the Cape of Good Hope one which
reduced tlje time of transit between Europe and
Asia by about one-half. That such a commu-
nication should be actually established was a
matter of very grave political moment to several
of the European powers. It lessened the mili-
tary as well as the commercial route to India,
and this was a matter of high importance to
England. The same fact caused Russia to look
with jealous eye upon its completion. Having
been constructed, moreover, by a French com-

ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 31

pany, and to a large extent by French capital,
it was an enterprise in which France had an
immediate concern.

The project of M. Ferdinand de Lesseps to
pierce the Isthmus of Suez with a canal, thus
joining the waters of the Mediterranean to those
of the Red Sea, was by no means the first which
had been conceived with that end in view. Far
back in the time of the Pharaohs (about 1400
B.C.) a canal fifty-seven miles long is said to
have been built on the isthmus. Darius made a
similar attempt to unite the two seas, and it
seems to be proved that a complete canal
actually existed and was used some three
centuries before Christ. The first Napoleon
caused a survey of the isthmus to be made while
he was in possession of Egypt ; and later
Mehemet Ali seriously contemplated the con-
struction of a canal. . But all these projects
proved abortive until M. de Lesseps had
matured the scheme which, amid many formi-
dable obstacles and much ridicule, he at last
carried to successful completion.

Ferdinand de Lesseps, when quite a young

32 ENGLAND IN EGYPT,

man, was a clerk in the French consulate at
Cairo. As far back as 1830 he had begun to
brood over the idea that a canal might be made,
and to picture to himself the vast influence which
such a canal could not fail to have on the relations
and destiny of nations. This dream occupied
his mind and his studies for a quarter of a
century. It was not until 1854, however, that
Lesseps had matured his plan, and was ready
to broach it to the Egyptian ruler. Said
Pasha was then reigning, and from the first
looked with a certain degree of favor on
Lesseps's project. He gave him a prelimi-
nary concession for a canal across the isth-
mus, and, two years later made this con-
cession a final one. Lesseps, knowing how
deeply interested England must be in such a
water way if completed, applied to Lord
Palmerston, then Prime Minister, for pecuniary
aid in prosecuting the scheme. Palmerston only
laughed him to scorn, declared the project im-
possible, and vigorously opposed Lesseps's
operations.

The enthusiastic engineer was not to be dis-

ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 33

mayed by such a rebuff. Turning to his own
country, Lesseps received prompt and substantial
encouragement. A company to construct the
canal was formed with a capital of $40,000,000,
in shares of $100, more than half of which was
speedily taken up, for the most part in France.
In i860 Said Pasha, convinced that the canal
would be a great thing for Egypt, assumed
all the shares yet unsold, which amounted to
$17,500,000. Turkey, as the suzerain of Egypt,
forbade the undertaking ; but it is a striking
evidence how feeble Turkish power had become
in the land of the Nile, that no attention was
paid to the Sultan's prohibition, and that M.
Lesseps pursued his undertaking just as if no
such potentate as the Sultan existed.

Ground was broken on the Suez canal on the
25th of April, 1859, iiear the site where the busy
town of Port Said (named in honor of Said
Pasha) has since grown up. A large part of the
workmen were Egyptian fellahs, who had been
subject to a forced conscription, called the corvee^
and were paid cheap wages by the company.
Owing to the interference of the English govern-

34 ENGLAND IN EGYPT.

ment this supply of native workmen was with-
drawn just as the canal was getting fairly under
way. The English also persuaded Ismail that
the company, under the concessions made to it,
would be too powerful from a political point of
view. The issue of the differences which thus
arose between the company and the Egyptian
government was, that all matters of disagree-
ment were referred to the Emperor Napo-
leon III.

The Emperor awarded the company an in-
demnity of $17,500,000, to be paid by Egypt for
the loss of the corvee^ for the withdrawal of
certain concessions of land, and for the resump-
tion of the I'resh-water canal. This added capital
enabled the company to steadily pursue its great
project. In 1864, however, Lesseps was obliged
to negotiate a loan founded on lottery drawings,
to the amount of $33,330,000. A still further
loan was contracted five years later of $6,000,-
000, and Egypt paid the company $6,000,000
more for the giving up of all rights on the fresh-
water canal. The total capital of the company
had now grown to $85,000,000 ; and this sum

ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 35

increased later to $95,000,000. The construc-
tion of the canal occupied a little more than ten
years ; and its completion was celebrated in
November, 1869, by imposing fetes and cere-
monies, at which the Empress of the French
and many European notabilities assisted.

The Suez canal, in its complete course, from
the Mediterranean to the Gulf of Suez, is %6
miles long. Its width at the water line varies
from 190 feet to 328 feet. Its width at the
bottom averages 72 feet. Its depth is 26 feet.
It is supplied with numerous " sidings," by
which large vessels can be shunted so as to
allow others to pass in the narrower parts of
the channel. At its opening the canal was
available for vessels drawing 18 feet, but the
widenings since made have considerably in-
creased this capacity. Up to within a recent
period the canal has proved sufficient for the
requirements of commercial transit ; but lat-
terly it has become overcrowded, and several
schemes — one for still further widening it, and
another for constructing a new canal parallel to
it — have been gravely considered and debated.

36 ENGLAND IN EGYPT,

It is important, from both a political and a
commercial point of view, to show how the
Suez canal has shortened the water way from
the great emporiums of Europe and America
to those of the Orient. In his valuable book
on Egypt; Mr. J. C. McCoan gives the fol-
lowing statement as to the saving of time and
distance effected by the canal as compared with
the route around the Cape of Good Hope :
*' By the latter (the cape) the distance between
England and Bombay is 10,860 nautical miles,
w^hile by the canal it is only 6,030 miles, rep-
resenting a saving of 4,840 miles ; from Mar-
seilles to Bombay the distance by the cape is
10,560 miles, by the canal 4,620 miles, or a
saving of 5,940 miles ; from St. Petersburg to
Bombay is, by the cape, 11,610 miles, by the
canal 6,770 miles — a saving of 4,840 miles;
and from New York to Bombay, via the cape,
11,520 miles, by the canal 7,920 miles — a
saving of 3,600 miles."

The earnings of the company are made by
tariff charges upon the vessels, merchandise, and
passengers going through the canal. These

ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 37

charges were regulated ten years ago by an
international commission of twelve maritime
powers, and the scale adopted by it was put
in operation. The charges as established are
fixed at ten francs per ton, ten per passenger,
with other dues for pilotage, anchorage and
minor services. The actual cost of the canal
is stated at $87,590,000 in round numbers.
The net profits for the year 1883, the last
reported, amounted to $7,170,000 in round
numbers, and the dividend paid to the share-
holders in that year amounted to 17.33 per
cent. Inasmuch as the total number of shares
is about 400,000, England, as the purchaser
of 176,602, may be said to own more than two-
fifths of the canal.

It is provided by the rules of the company
that, aside from the 5 per cent, interest on the
shares, the net earnings shall be divided as
follows : 15 per cent, to the Egyptian treasury ;
10 to the founders' shares ; 2 to form invalid
fund ; 71 as dividend on the 400,000 shares ;
and 2 to the managing directors. The cost of
the canal to the Egyptian government was very

38 ENGLAND IN EGYPT,

heavy, and had much to do with bringing the
financial affairs of Egypt into the perplexity
which provoked foreign interference. The total
cost is given by Mr. McCoan, up to 1875, at
about $87,000,000. " Nor is this even," he
says, " the full measure of its heavy cost to
the country. It has diverted from the native
harbors and railroads a large and profitable
transit traffic, from which for years to come
the treasury will derive little beyond some
trifling customs dues. Yet the political
gains from it have been great. Its impor-
tance to the trade of the world has given
Egypt a definite place in the European con-
cert." ,

The extent to which the maritime use of
the canal has grown may be judged by these
figures. In 1873, 1,17^ vessels, with an ag-
gregate tonnage of 2,085,270, passed through,
and the receipts amounted to about $500,000.
In 1883, 3,307 vessels, with an aggregate ton-
nage of 8,106,601 passed through, yielding
receipts to the sum of $13,000,000. Of the
different maritime nations England sends three-

ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 39

quarters of the vessels and tonnage which go
through the canal. In 1883, of the 3,307
vessels, 2,537 were English, 272 were French,
124 were Dutch, 123 were German, 67 were
Austrian, 63 were Italian, 51 were Spanish,
18 were Russian, 18 were Norwegian, 12
were Belgian, 9 were Turkish, and 3 were
Egyptian.

Some idea is thus gained of the value of
the Suez canal to the commercial world
dealing with the East. Its political impor-
tance should not be ignored. In the event
of war, especially of war between Russia and
England, the Suez canal would be of special,
and almost vital, necessity to England. It
would be sorely needed for the transit of her
war-ships, troops and war-supplies. Eng-
land's interest in the canal is, indeed, three-
fold. She has a stake in its prosperity as
the holder of more than a third of its shares ;
as the largest commercial State trading with
the East ; and as the ruler of India, to which
the canal offers the nearest route. It is, in-
deed, the Suez canal which affords England

40 ENGLAND IN EGYPT,

one of her most imperative reasons for keep-
ing her hold on Egypt, through whose territory
the canal passes, and to whose administra-
tion and military control the canal is sub-
ject.

ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 41

III.

THE GOVERNMENT, PEOPLE AND
RESOURCES OF EGYPT.

In considering the government of Egypt
as it now exists it must always be borne
in mind that English influence is in reality
paramount in Cairo. The Khedive is an ab-
solute ruler. All the laws are promulgated
by him, and his will is law throughout the
administration. But circumstances have placed
the Khedive completely under English influ-
ence. The English diplomatic agent, resi-
dent at Cairo, guides the Khedive's policy
with the force of command. Thus the organ-
ization of the Egyptian army and policy,
the execution of reforms in Egypt's internal
affairs, as well as the regulation of Egyptian
finance, are really in the hands of the foreign
power which stands before Europe and the

42 ENGLAND IN EGYPT.

world solely accountable for the well-being
and solvency of the Egyptian realm.

There is a certain degree of executive and
legislative system in the Egyptian adminis-
tration. The Khedive has his cabinet of five
ministers, who preside respectively over for-
eign affairs, finances, war, interior, public
worship and education. The minister of
foreign affairs is usually the Prime Minister^
who, with the Khedive's assent, selects and
appoints his colleagues. Connected in a certain
way with the ministry is an English "financial
adviser," who has a "consultation voice"
in the ministerial council. By a constitutional
project ,put into operation under English
influence in 1883, two bodies of a quasi
legislative character were established. One
of these is a legislative council of thirty mem-
bers, of whom sixteen are chosen by indi-
rect and very restricted suffrage for six years,
and fourteen are appointed by the Khedive.
The functions of this body are defined to be
" to consider petitions addressed to the Khe-
dive, and to give their views on the budget

ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 43

and other matters ; " these views being accepted
or rejected on the advice of the ministers.

The other public body is called the Gen-
eral Assembly. It comprises the ministers,
the members of the legislative council, and
forty-six additional members chosen by in-
direct suffrage for six years. This assembly
is empowered to "vote. new taxes, give its
opinion on every new loan, public works,
land-taxes, and on other matters which are
submitted to it by the Khedive." The legis-
lative council meets several times each year ;
the General Assembly at least as often as
once in two years. No one can be elected
to the latter body who is not able to read
and write, or who pays a land tax of less
than $250. The electoral body of Egypt, the
total population of which is nearly 7,000,000,
is less than 1,000,000.

A large reform was also effected in 1883,
in the local government of the Egyptian
provinces. Over the eight principal towns
are placed officials of the rank of Governor.
Egypt is also divided into fourteen prefectures,

44 ENGLAND IN EGYPT,

or provinces, governed by mudirs. These
prefectures are divided into departments, or
kisms^ which are governed by mamours;
and the departments are again divided into
communes, or cantons, governed by nazirs
and sheiks. Each province has its elective
legislative council, chosen indirectly by uni-
versal suffrage ; and there is also a local
council for each commune or canton. The
village sheik is the tax assessor and gatherer,
and is a magistrate and constable in one.
The old cruel system of v^ringing oppressive
taxes from the fellahs by the application of
the courbash — a whip made of hippopota-
mus hidQ — is fast going out of existence,
owing to the more enlightened methods of
tax levying and collecting introduced under
English influence.

Other important changes which have been
effected in Egyptian affairs within two or
three years have been the reorganization of
the judicial system, of the police, and of
the army. The courts have been to some
extent reformed by the continuation of mixed

ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 45

tribunals of Europeans and natives, and the
curtailment and regulation of the judicial
powers of the mudirs. A new criminal code
was established in 1884, and a Procureur-
General (attorney-general) created to super-
vise the magisterial system. It may be
broadly said that justice is done in Egypt
as never before, though there is still much
to do before its reign can become supreme.
The police system has been consolidated and
centralized, and placed under the control of
a Director-General at Cairo. The police were
formerly under the control of the mudirs.
In the autumn of 1882 the entire Egyptian
army -was disbanded, and organized on a
new basis. The new army comprised about
6,000 men, and was put under the command
of an English general, Sir Evelyn Wood.

From the time of the defeat of Arabi
Pasha at Tel-el-Kebir to the present, an
English army of occupation has remained in
Egypt, garrisoned mainly at Alexandria and
Cairo. Thus England holds military as well
as political control over the country. This

4^ ENGLAND IN EGYPT,

army according to the last reports com-
prised about 11,000 men, in command of
General Stephenson. This of course is ex-
clusive of the forces sent more recently to
the Soudan, under the commands respectively
of Generals Wolseley and Graham. The
principal results of the virtual English pro-
tectorate have been, that the courbash has
been for the most part abolished ; the system
of public v^orks has been improved ; the new-
tribunals have been put into w^orking order,
and the prison system has been materially re-
formed.

The subjects of the Khedive dwelling in
Egypt proper are very diverse in race and traits.
They comprise settled Arabs (the large propor-
tion of whom are fellaheen, or peasants, tilling
the land) , Bedoween (or nomadic Arabs) , Turks,
Copts, Abyssinians, Nubians, Jews, rayah
Greeks, Syrians, Armenians, and Europeans of
many nationalities. Of these the settled Arabs
form the overwhelming majority, comprising
probably four-fifths of the population. It is
said that most of these settled Arabs are descend-

ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 47

ants of the Christian Copts, who apostasized to
Islam when the Arabs conquered Egypt in the
seventh century. The Arab fellaheens, espe-
cially those of lower Egypt, are described as
powerful, sturdy men, of a good average height,
and notable often for their physical beauty. The
women too are finely formed, and have in
many cases beautiful teeth and expressive
features. McCoan says of the fellaheen that
they are ' ' the most patient, the most pacific, the
most home-loving, and withal the merriest race
in the world." They are temperate, honest
and easily content.

As for the wandering Bedoween who swarm
in the valleys and deserts of the upper Nile,
they present the characteristics which mark no-
madic races the world over. It is thought that
the Bedoween number in all not far from 300,000,
the most important tribes being the Ababdehs
and the Bishareen, on the borders and northern
regions of the Soudan. The Bedoween are
proud, independent, warlike, impulsive and
fickle. They present a singular contrast to their
settled Arab brethren. They are adventurous

4^ ENGLAND IN EGYPT.

and wandering by nature and inheritance. For
a few months they settle down on the borders
where fertility joins the desert ; the rest of the
year finds them crossing the dreary wastes,
encamping by lovely springs, and flitting with
their caravans from oasis to oasis.

Second in the Egyptian population in point
of numbers are the Copts, the ancient Christians
of the Nile-land. The Copts are regarded as
the descendants of the Egyptians of the Rameses
and the Pharaohs, though with some admixture
of Greek and Persian blood. Most of all the
Khedive's subjects the Copts resemble the sculpt-
ured faces on the pyramids and obelisks. They
are small oT stature, full of feature, with straight
noses, large lips and large black eyes. They
belong to the Jacobite set of Christians, and
regard St. Mark as the founder of their faith.
But they are probably the most degraded of
Christian sects, practising polygamy and circum-
cision and other Moslem customs. They have,
however, good business capacity, and comprise
a ^arge proportion of the retail shopkeepers and
land agents in Egypt. The Copts may be

ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 49

ranked as the lower middle class of Egyptian
society. In upper Egypt many of them are
small farmers ; and they are employed to some
extent in subordinate capacities in the public
offices.

The subjugation of Egypt by the Turks re-
sulted naturally in the addition of a Turkish
population to the mixed races of the Nile. But
nearly all the Turks who followed in the wake
of Selim's conquest three and a half centuries
ago took up their abode in or near Cairo.
They became the dominant official and social
caste, and were a sort of aristocracy, who held
aloof from their Egyptian fellow-Moslems.
After a time, however, the Turks in Egypt lost
their social supremacy and their official influ-
ence. The offices were taken from them and
given to Arabs ; and as time went on the
Turkish colony decreased in numbers. There
are now said to be less than 10,000 Turks in
Egypt, mostly settled in the large cities, and
engaged in trade or industrial occupations.

Of the remaining races domiciled in Egypt it
may be said that the Abyssinians nearly resemble

so ENGLAND IN EGYPT.

the Copts, alike in religious belief and custom,
in physical traits, and in moral and mental char-
acteristics. For the most part they came to Egypt
as slaves, and the women are greatly preponder-
ant in number. There are two kinds of Greeks
in Egypt: those who claim to be descended
from the ancient Greek conquerors, and the
modern Greeks who have taken up their abode
in the cities, and are the lowest and most w^orth-
less of the denizens of the eastern Mediterra-
nean. Lastly, the Jews of Egypt are the most
degraded of all oriental Jews. They were long
bitterly persecuted, but are much less so in these
days of broader toleration. Some of them have
risen to high influence as bankers and mer-
chants ; but for the most part they are pawn-
brokers, usurers, vendors of cheap goods and
artisans.

The principal industry of Egypt is and has
been for many years the cultivation of the
land in what is called the Delta, and along
the banks of the Nile. The Delta is an
irregular triangle, enclosed between the two
branches of the Nile which flow into the

ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 5^

Mediterranean. Its base is about 80 miles
in length, and its area about 2,000 square
miles. The Delta is fertile, and almost
wholly arable. The cultivable land above
it, from Cairo as far as Assouan, has an
average width, including both banks of
the river Nile, of 6 miles ; being wider at
some points and narrower at others. Of
course the limit of this arable land on
either side is the line up to which the Nile
overflows its banks in the spring. On either
side the valley is shut in from the desert
regions beyond by ranges of hills and moun-
tains.

There are, moreover, certain valleys which
are very fruitful. The chief of these is the
valley of Fayoum, 80 miles south-west
from Cairo, which, being artificially watered
by canals, is luxuriantly fertile over a tract
of some 700 square miles. The valley of
Fayoum produces in abundance not only rice
and grain, but also dates, flax, grapes, cot-
ton, many varieties of fruit, and roses, from
which rose-water is made. There are

52 ENGLAND IN EGYPT,

several large oases, too, in Egyptian ter-
ritory which reward the tiller of the land
with profitable crops. The most consider-
able of these are the Great and Lesser Oases,
southward from Fayoum. In all the arable
land of Egypt is estimated at not far from
5,000,000 acres, of which 500,000 comprise
the landed estates of the Khedive. As has
been said, the great mass of farm laborers
are the Arab fellaheen.

The most valuable product of Egyptian
land is cotton, a plant which was certainly
cultivated by the ancient, as it still is by the
modern, Egyptians. The revival of cotton-
planting J:ook place in 182 1 under the aus-
pices of Mehemet Ali. At present it is
probable that 1,000,000 acres are yearly sown
with this staple. In 1883 cotton to the
value of $38,000,000 was exported from
Egypt, almost entirely to England. Besides
this, cotton-seed was exported to the value
of $8,500,000. The next product in value
is beans, which are 'grown in nearly every
part of Egypt, and yielded in exports, in

ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 53

1883, about $5,000,000. Wheat is the third
staple, with an export value of ^2,735,000.

One of the great industries of Egypt, both
in production and in manufacture, is sugar.
Egyptian sugar, moreover, competes success-
fully with the best sugar of France. In
1883 sugar to the value of $2,000,000 was
exported from Egypt. Some 80,000 acres
are devoted to the cultivation of the sugar-
cane, of which more than one-half is grown
on the Khedive's estates. The late Khedive,
Ismail, spent enormous sums in the erection
of sugar factories and treacle (molasses) mills.
Of the other products of Egypt, ivory was
exported in 1 883 to the value of $600,000 ;
skins to the value of $625,000; rice $605,000 ;
gum $600,000 ; maize $200,000 ; and ostrich
feathers $350,000.

The total of Egyptian exports for 1883
was about $61,500,000, of which England re-
ceived about two-thirds ; America received
Egyptian products to the amount of $150,000.
The imports into Egypt for this same year
reached $43,000,000, of which England con-

54 ENGLAND IN EGYPT.

tributed a little less than one-half. The prin-
cipal imports consisted of cotton goods, coal,
clothing, indigo, timber, wines and spirits,
coffee, tobacco, refined sugar and machinery.
It may be added that the Egyptian railways
now cover lines to the extent of 1,276 miles;
that the telegraphs have a total length of
about 3,000 miles, and that the number of
post-offices in the kingdom is about 172.

ENGLAND IN EGYPT. %S

IV.

THE SOUDAN.

The country of the Soudan, which has at-
tracted public attention during the past two or
three years, is a vast, vague region lying to the
south of Egypt proper, and has no well-defined
boundaries. The word " Soudan" means "the
country of the black men." The Soudan which
belongs to Egypt, however, embraces but a small
portion of the territory designated by that name ;
and even of the Soudan of Egypt it is quite im-
possible to say where, at least on the west and
on the south, it begins and ends. Egypt proper
may be said to end at the northern borders of
the great Nubian desert, its most southerly point
on the Nile being the town of Assouan, just
below the first cataract. On the east the
Egyptian Soudan finds its limit at the Red Sea
and Abyssinia.

56 ENGLAND IN EGYPT,

On the west Egyptian rule has extended
itself as far as the important district of Darfour,
and includes the province of Kordofan. It is in
the south, far up the two branches of the Nile,
that the boundaries of the Soudan become the
most indefinite. It is certain that General
Gordon, during his first administration as gov-
ernor of the Soudan in 1874-5, carried his con-
quests up almost to Lake Albert Nyanza, the
source itself of the Nile. But the southern limit
of the country over which Egypt has actually
established authority has been placed, by a
recent writer, at Gondokoro. The whole region
of the Soudan under Egyptian rule is roughly
estimated at 2,500,000 square miles, with a
population somewhere between 10,000,000 and
15,000,000. Of this population it is probable
that one-third are nomadic Arabs, and the other
two-thirds negroes. A majority of the inhabi-
tants, however, both Arab and negro, are be-
lieved to be Mahommedans.

The conquest of the northern portion of the
Soudan was effected by Mehemet Ali, whose
son Ibrahim carried the Egyptian arms to the

ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 57

Junction of the White and Blue Niles. At that
junction Mehemet founded the fortress town of
Khartoum, which afterward became, and still
continues to be, the most important emporium
and entrepot of the country. It commanded the
slave reserves to the south and west, received the
supplies of ivory and other products of the
desert regions, and gave a formidable point of
defence and departure to the military projects of
Egypt. For many years after Mehemet's death
no effort was made by the Egyptian rulers to
extend their dominions in the Soudan. Ismail
Pasha, however, formed a vast scheme of ag-
grandizement, in which he was encouraged by
the English in the hope that thereby the hideous
slave-trade of the upper Nile might be restricted,
if not altogether crushed out.

Ismail made the conquest of Darfour in 1875,
and thereby added a large and for the most part
fruitful province to his kingdom. Darfour pro-
duces wheat, rice, maize and tobacco in abun-
dance, and some cotton. It has mines of copper
and iron, and is a prosperous cattle-raising
country. It has a thriving trade with Egypt

5S ENGLAND IN EGYPT,

and Arabia in ivory, ostrich feathers, hides, and,
it is unpleasant to add, in slaves. Already the
fertile and densely populated Shillook country
had come under Egyptian control ; while the ex-
peditions of Sir Samuel Baker and, soon after,
of " Chinese Gordon," undertaken vs^ith a
primary view of suppressing the slave-trade,
served to extend Egyptian rule far up the Nile,
and to open communication with regions which
had before been, to civilization, as dark as any
part of the " Dark Continent." Indeed, so
vigorous were Gordon's efforts to this end that
he actually established a line of communication
from Cairo to the equator, a distance of nearly
3,000 milgs.

But the control of the Egyptian Khedives
over the Soudan was never complete. It could
only be maintained in the settled towns and
at the isolated garrison posts. It could not
reach out over the deserts, and reduce the
vast, wandering, barbarous, swarming Arabs
and negroes to submission. Neither Baker
nor Gordon could suppress, or more than
temporarily limit, the slave-trade. That trade

FORTRESS OF THE SOUDAN.

ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 59

was and is truly " Ingrained in every fibre
of what may be called social life throughout
all Central and Eastern Africa, and no
power on earth can extinguish it except by
the slow agency of civilization." The chan-
nels by which slaves are brought to the
Red Sea and shipped to Arabia and other
parts of Western Asia, run from the Galla
country, the regions of the great southern
lakes, and Kordofan ; and it has been found
impossible to close more than one or two
of these channels at a time.

The principal fortress towns of the Soudan
which have been garrisoned by Egyptian
troops, and from which Egyptian governors
have tried to impose the decrees of Cairo,
are Khartoum, Dongola, Berber, Shendy, Sen-
naar, all of which are on the upper Nile,
and all except Sennaar, below the junction of
the two branches ; Kassala, which stands
not far from the Abyssinian frontier, near the
Akbara — the largest affluent of the Nile which
empties into it below Khartoum ; and Suakin,
a seaport on the Red Sea, which is 240

6o ENGLAND IN EGYPT.

miles from Berber, the nearest point to
Suakin on the Nile. An abortive attempt
was made by Ismail to construct a railway
up the valley of the Nile from Cairo to
Khartoum ; but this railway up to the pres-
ent time has only been completed about 200
miles to Siout ; the distance from Cairo to
Khartoum being about 1,200 miles.

The rule of the Egyptians in the Soudan
has been from first to last oppressive and
capriciously cruel. Taxes have been imposed
with rigor, and have been collected with
ruthless severity. The Khedives have en-
forced conscriptions, by which the Arabs and
negroes have been compelled to enter the
Egyptian army, and to fight, if need there
were, their own trilDCS and countrymen. It
is said that at times no less than 30,000
Soudanese have been enrolled among the
Egyptian forces. The people of the Soudan
are composed of fierce, warlike races, as they
have abundantly shown in the recent cam-
paigns, and they have always resented the
rule of their northern conquerors. They

ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 6 1

could only be kept from open revolt by the
stringent application of military methods.
The slave-traders resented interference v^ith
their inhuman but profitable commerce ; while
that part of the population which eagerly
desired the suppression of the slave-trade
looked with despair on the futile attempts of
the Egyptian pashas, aided by English gov-
ernors, to put it down.

It only needs a brief glimpse of the Sou-
dan — of the character of its inhabitants ; its
vast regions of desert, interspersed with fer-
tile provinces, oases and rich valleys ; the
conditions of its means of subsistence ; the
oppressive methods of Egyptian rule ; the op-
portunities afforded by the demoralization of
Egyptian affairs ; the appeal made by a pre-
tended prophet, at a ripe moment, to the
fanaticism and superstition of barbarous Mos-
lems— to explain the formidable revolt which
has destroyed garrisons, sacrificed Gordon,
and long defied the prowess of English arms.
The events which have led to these results
properly belong to another chapter.

62 ENGLAND IN EGYPT.

V.

EL MAHDI, THE "FALSE PROPHET."

Having briefly described the building up of
the modern kingdom of Egypt ; the construction
of the Suez canal, and its bearing upon European
politics and especially upon English interests ;
the present status of the Egyptian government,
and the political control of England therein ; and
the region of the Soudan, upon which public
interest was recently intent ; I resume the nar-
ration of the events which have followed the
overthrow of Arabi Pasha by the English and
the consequent strengthening of the English hold
on Egypt.

Arabi' s defeat and capture left Egypt, indeed,
completely at the mercy of England. With him
the flower of the Egyptian army had been over-
thrown and dispersed ; and it had become nec-
essary that the Khedive's dominions should be

ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 63

protected by English troops. While, therefore,
the English cabinet reiterated the declaration
that they intended to evacuate Egypt, and to
leave the Khedive entirely to himself, just as
soon as the country could be restored to order
and settled government, as a fact English influ-
ence was now supreme at Cairo, and increased
English garrisons were established at Cairo and
Alexandria. But scarcely had Arabi been safely
consigned to captivity in Ceylon when a fresh
revolt broke out against Egyptian rule in the
distant and difficult region of the Soudan, which
was destined to prove far more obstinate than
that of the ex-Minister of War. This revolt was
headed by a personage so remarkable, with a
career so dramatic, that some account of him
will not be out of place.

About four years ago a startling rumor crept
through the Mohammedan populations of Africa
and Arabia that a man claiming to be the
later Messiah of Islam, the successor of Moham-
med, the chief of a new crusade, had made his
appearance south of the Nubian desert. What
gave greater importance to the rumor was, that

64 ENGLAND IN EGYPT.

for generations there has floated in the East a
saying that in the latter part of this century a
new prophet would arise ; would gather to him
the scattered forces of the faithful ; and would
restore the Moslem faith and power to their
ancient height. The appearance of the new
self-styled "Mahdi" was at first discredited.
At Constantinople and at Mecca the news was
received with indiflerence and contempt. Many
an impostor has thus attempted to foist him-
self with prophetic authority on Islam, only to
be overwhelmed with disaster and to be driven
into obscurity and disgrace. But the stories of
the latest Mahdi kept coming from the barbarous
regions of tiie upper Soudan. It was said that
a large though savage army had flocked to his
standard ; that the tribes on the banks of the
Blue and the White Nile were giving in their
allegiance to him ; and that the disaffection
which he had stirred up was spreading even
among the warlike Bedoween between the Nile
and the Red Sea.

The undoubted existence and the increasing
strength of the Mahdi could at last no longer be

ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 65

ignored at the centres of Mohammedan author-
ity. A serious alarm seized the court of the
Sultan-Caliph, and grave councils were held in
the great temple at Mecca, Then the Grand
Cherif of Mecca, the highest of the high-priests
of Islam, issued his proclamation declaring the
new claimant to be an impostor, and warning
the faithful to avoid his standard and to resist his
pretensions. It was supposed that this decree
would at once act on the superstitious minds of
the African Mohammedans, and that the self-
claimed Mahdi would be deserted and, like pre-
vious impostors, disappear. But this result did
not follow. The Cherif s fulmination did not
serve in the least to check the growth of the
Mahdi's cause. Gradually his following in-
creased ; and now, assuming the militant role of
Mohammed, he began an aggressive campaign.
He set to himself the task first of wresting the
Soudan from the rule of Egypt ; and did not
hesitate to proclaim that he intended to pursue
the conquest of all the African Mohammedan
States.

The Mahdi's career seems to have been at-

66 ENGLAND IN EGYPT.

tended from the first with almost unvarying
good fortune. More than one Egyptian strong-
hold fell into the hands of his rabble and fanatic
horde. At last the Egyptian Khedive, miserable
as his situation was, had no alternative but to
attempt the suppression of this fresh revolt
against his authority. The defeat of Arabi
Pasha at Tel-el-Kebir had deprived the Khedive
of his best troops, and he was forced to send an
inferior armament against the rebellious prophet.
A force of 10,000 Egyptians and Nubians,
under command of Hicks Pasha, an English-
man, marched against the Mahdi, who was
already threatening the fortresses of the upper
Nile. The hostile armies met at El Obeid, west
of the White Nile. The encounter was short
and savage. Its appalling result was, that Hicks
Pasha and his force were not only overwhelm-
ingly defeated, but were almost to a man de-
stroyed on the field of battle by the enraged
legions of the prophet.

All Europe and the East shuddered at this
frightful disaster, which was a terrific blow at
the rule of the Khedive. It also shook the

ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 67

Sultan's throne, and carried dismay to the holy
places of Mecca. The prestige of the Mahdi
was immensely increased by his success. It fell
with telling effect upon the ears and imagination
of the Mohammedan races. Victory seemed to
give sanction to the Mahdi's claim. It was said
that his army at El Obeid numbered at least
200,000 men, comprised of dervishes, Bedo-
ween, mulattoes, and some regular troops sup-
plied with fire-arms. Of course his follov/ers
rapidly increased after the overthrow of Hicks
Pasha's army ; and now the Mahdi seriously
threatened Khartoum and the Egyptian fortresses
protecting the Soudan at Dongola, Berber,
Sennaar and other places between the upper
Nile and the Red Sea.

The Mahdi's name was Mohammed Achmet.
He was a native of the province of Dongola, a
fortified town on the Nile between the third
and fourth cataracts, and bordering upon the
great Nubian desert. He was said to be of pure
Arab blood ; and this was fortunate for him, since
none but an Arab could ever hope^ to impose
a prophetic authority upon Islam. His grand-

68 ENGLAND IN EGYPT,

father was a Moslem priest. His father, Ab-
dullah, was a carpenter. Early in the Mahdi's
boyhood the family moved to Shendy, not far
from Berber. Here the young Achmet was
apprenticed to his uncle, a boatman. This
uncle having one day beaten him, the boy ran
away to Khartoum, where he entered a free
school kept by a fakir (learned man, head of a
sect of dervishes). Achmet studied hard, and
especially absorbed himself in learning the
doctrines of Mohammedanism as taught by the
sheik of the shrine of Hoggiali. He then re-
moved to a similar school near Berber, attached
to another shrine much reverenced by the natives.
After passing some time at this and other schools
Achmet was himself ordained as a sheik, at a
village called Aradup, in the year 1870, and he
at once took up his abode in this sacred capacity
on the Island of Abba, in the White Nile.

It was at Abba that Achmet entered upon
those practices and began no doubt to prepare
himself for that mission which have since at-
tracted to him the allegiance of such formidable
numbers of Mohammedans. He dug a deep

ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 69

cave on the island, and made it a habit to retire
for prayer and contemplation into its darkest
recesses. There he would repeat for hours
together one of the names of the Deity, which
exercise was accompanied by fasting, the burn-
ing of incense and attitudes of abject humility.
His renown as a man of saintly character spread
far and wide. He grew rich on the offerings of
the pious, and married several wives, being
always careful to choose them from influential
and wealthy Arab families.

At last, in 1881, he openly announced himself
to be the Mahdi foretold by Mohammed, whose
advent had been predicted for that very year.
He sent messages to the sheiks and fakirs round
about, declaring that he had a divine mission to
reform Islam ; to establish a universal equality,
a universal law, a universal religion, and a com-
munity of goods ; and to destroy all — whether
Mohammedan or Christian — who refused to
believe him and to accept him as a true prophet.
Just as, in Christianity, Christ superseded the
Mosaic dispetisation, so the Mahdi claims to
have been sent by Allah to renew the old cove-

70 ENGLAND IN EGYPT.

nant of God with man. By these bold assertions
the Mahdi soon secured a hearing, then a follow-
ing. Many of the sheiks who had long observed
his austere piety were easily persuaded to believe
him inspired, and adopted his cause with Oriental
ardor and enthusiasm. He soon found himself
accepted, not only by large numbers of the
population in the regions of the Blue and the
White Nile, but even among the wandering
tribes of the Nubian and Soudan deserts.

The Mahdi was fortunate in being able to work
upon the imagination of the races whom he
sought to win, by certain circumstances and
coincidences which seemed to give him a resem-
blance to the Prophet Mohammed. These the
ignorant and credulous Arabs were not slow to
magnify into striking proofs of the Mahdi's
divine mission. When they heard that he bore
upon his face certain peculiar marks symbolical
of a true prophetic character ; that there was a
difference in the length of his arms and also in
the color of his eyes, — defects which appertained
to the great Mohammed himself;- that not only
was his name, but that of his parents, Moham-

ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 7 1

med, their enthusiasm was aroused and their
faith became fixed. He could assert that, like
the great prophet, he had been forced to fly for
his life when he put forth his startling claim ;
and that, again like the founder of Islam, he had
been able in spite of repeated obstacles to explain
the causes of his ill-fortune, and to keep his fol-
lowers with him in adversity as well as in victory.

These things he said he had accomplished
by timely revelations from Allah. Thus it was
that he carried his cause through the Soudan,
and made himself reverenced as one who was in
constant communion with Heaven, and who had
acquired the exalted power of working miracles.
The Mahdi's example was followed by other
fakirs in the Soudan, who rose to rival his
pretensions and to claim the divine office of
prophet for themselves. No sooner, however,
did such rivalry rear its head than the Mahdi
assailed his foe, and with all the savage and
pitiless ferocity of Mohammed himself over-
came him and crushed him and his followers to
the earth.

Those who have seen this remarkable man

72 ENGLAND IN EGYPT.

describe him as tall, slim, straight, with the true
Arab creamy complexion, black hair cut close
to the skull, and a black beard descending to a
point after the Arab fashion. His eyes were dark
and piercing, one eye being black and the other
brown. His manner was stern, serious, and often
absent and distraught, as if in deep contempla-
tion. He was very reticent, giving his orders in
few words, and was active and alert in all his
proceedings. The Mahdi proved himself a man
of extraordinary ability. He was a warrior
of the fierce, impetuous, obstinate Arab type.
He kindled to fiery ardor on the battle-field. He
was yet cautious and adroit as a strategist. His
career stowed him to be cunning and far-
seeing. He seems to have maintained a won-
derful efficiency of military organization among
the barbarians who so eagerly followed his
standard, and to have had the ability to create an
army out of the most unpromising materials. In
the midst of warlike conflict he maintained his
religious pretensions and practices. He spent
much time, in solitude, prayer, fasting and silent
contemplation. He professed to seek daily the

ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 73

counsels and commands of Allah. He claimed
to communicate with the spirit of Mohammed,
and to receive from the great prophet the in-
spiration of his warlike movements.

Of imposing personal appearance, he sus-
tained the faith and loyalty of his followers wher-
ever he himself was present and in their sight.
He made no secret of his design to reconquer
Islam, to sweep the Christians from Egypt,
Turkey, Tunis, Algiers, and even from India
and Turkistan. He aimed to refound Islam and
to reform it. His methods, like those of the great
prophet, were not only militant but relentless.
Massacre and desolation marked the places across
which the tornado of his barbaric hordes had
swept. By fire and sword the old foundations of
Islam were to be renewed. His exploits made
him, for the time at least, well-nigh the absolute
master of the Soudan. The sudden and mysteri-
ous death of the Mahdi, a few months after his
many triumphs had culminated in the capture of
Khartoumandthe immolation of Gordon, abruptly
cut short a career the conquests and conversions
of which could not have easily been forecast.

74 ENGLAND IN EGYPT,

VI.

ENGLAND IN EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

While the revolt of the Mahdi wore from
the beginning a religious aspect, while his first
claim to attention and support was derived from
his assumption of prophecy, the movement of
which he took the lead soon became political in
its objects. It was the long misrule of Egypt in
the Soudan, a misrule marked by cruelty, rob-
bery and oppression, which rallied to him his
rude armies of Arab and negro barbarians. The
dominion of Egypt had become simply intoler-
able. The rebellion of Arabi Pasha, though
unsuccessful, aroused a kindred spirit of resist-
ance among the warlike tribes of the deserts and
the upper Nile ; and the Mahdi, with his pro-
phetic pretensions, came in the nick of time to
lend superstitious zeal and military ability to the
movement.

ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 75

Of the numbers who flocked to the Mahdi's
standard, aiTd who afterwards followed him in his
remarkable career, no estimate can be made. It
is certain that his forces varied greatly with the
changing phases of the war. One tribe deserted
him, while another promptly filled the gap
after having opposed his progress. A decisive
success probably always had the effect of
swelling his ranks. It is very likely that the
conjecture of a recent writer that in all the
Mahdi's forces there had been 200,000 warriors
at one time is approximately accurate. The
Mahdi succeeded in capturing several of the
Egyptian garrisons before tfte English came to
oppose his further advance ; and, as fast as a
garrison was taken, It was massacred by the
Mahdi's ruthless followers..

The first step taken by England when it had
become apparent that the revolt of the Soudan
was assuming dangerous proportions was to ad-
vise the Khedive, in a tone which was virtually a
command, to abandon the Soudan altogether, to
withdraw his garrisons if possible, and leave the
destinies of the country to its own people. To

"jS ENGLAND IN EGYPT.

this the Khedive assented. But it soon became
apparent that the Egyptian government was too
weak to attempt the withdrawal of the garrisons,
and England was forced, very much against her
will, to follow up the advice given to the Khe-
dive by undertaking the relief of the garrisons
herself.

This decision was hastened by an event which
took place near Suakin. An Egyptian force
under Valentine Baker was overwhelmingly
defeated in its attempt to relieve the garri-
son of Sinkat, a few miles inland, by Osman
DIgna, one of the Mahdi's Generals. Osman
Djgna, who afterwards played a notable part in
the war, wag said to be a Frenchman by birth, to
have been educated in the military schools at
Cairo, and to have become a Mussulman in
early youth. After the defeat of Baker, Osman
Digna threatened Suakin itself with an Arab
force estimated at not less than 30,000 men. An
English expedition, together- with a naval force,
was at once despatched to the Red Sea. But
before it could act effectively the Egyptian gar-
risons at Sinkat and Tokar had yielded to the

ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 77

enemy, and had been for the most part mas-
sacred.

The English under General Graham now en-
tered upon a vigorous campaign against Osman
Digna. It was recognized that in his destruc-
tion only lay the safety of Suakin, if not that of
all the garrisons in the northern Soudan. Os-
man's Arabs swarmed in the hills westward of
Suakin ; and the English advanced to confront
him on the Suakin-Berber road. Graham in-
flicted two crushing defeats on the rebel chief at
Teb and Tamai, and it seemed for a while as if
Osman's military power was completely broken.
Public opinion in England urged at this juncture
that a part, at least, of Graham's force should
continue its march across the desert to Berber,
and thus relieve not only Berber, but Khartoum.
But, to the general astonishment, Graham with
his troops withdrew by order of the English
cabinet, and after two fruitless victories the cam-
paign near the Red Sea came to an end.

The problem which now presented itself was
how to relieve Khartoum, still held by a faithful
Egyptian garrison, and the most important mill-

78 ^ ENGLAND IN EGYPT.

tary position in the Soudan. The relief of
Khartoum was a much more formidable task
than the defeat of Osman ; since Khartoum was
far away amid the interior deserts, and could
only be reached by any route with infinite diffi-
culty and danger. The councils of the English
cabinet were greatly perplexed how to accom-
plish it. The fear of becoming deeply involved
in a distant and expensive war with Arab
fanatics vied with the responsibilities which
England had assumed in Egypt, and the neces-
sity of protecting Egypt from an invasion by the
False Prophet. England had virtually pledged
herself to rescue the garrisons in the Soudan,
and could m)t with honor retreat from her en-
gagement.

A strange, striking, but as the result proved
futile policy was adopted by Mr. Gladstone and
his colleagues. Yet this policy had this merit,
that if it succeeded it would have cost little in men
or money. General Charles Gordon had long
been famous for his military genius, his adventu-
rous and fearless spirit, his wonderful skill in deal-
ing with barbarous races, and his high capacity for

ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 79

administration in Mohammedan communities.
He had fought with gallantry and brilliant suc-
cess in the Chinese rebellion. He had done ex-
cellent service as Governor of the Soudan, vv^here
he had apparently won the respect and allegiance
of the nomad tribes. He had waged a vigorous
warfare against the slave-trade. He was full of
ardor, daring, and self-confidence. The Eng-
lish cabinet resolved to send General Gordon to
the Soudan, unattended by any military force,
but empowered to procure the withdrawal of the
Egyptian garrisons and to establish a settled
government by any means which he might find
it best to adopt.

Gordon set out for Khartoum in February,
1884. He went almost alone, bis companions
being two or three officers and an Arab convoy.
His only weapon was an ordinary walking-stick.
He went up the Nile from Cairo to Korosko,
and thence struck across the Nubian desert, in
constant peril of his life, surrounded by
hostile or suspicious tribes, and exposed to
the many dangers of the desert. But he
passed it safely, rejoined the Nile at Abu

So ENGLAND IN EGYPT.

Hamed, and thence proceeded up the river to
Khartoum.

At the Soudanese capital he was received
with a welcome which seemed to give bright
promise of the success of his mission. With
his unresting zeal he at once began the task
committed to him. He found the garrison
stanch and many of the surrounding tribes not
unfriendly. He strengthened the fortifications
of Khartoum and other places in the vicinity,
established order so far as his authority ex-
tended, and was even able to send down the river
to Berber a number of the Egyptians and Euro-
peans who had been living in Khartoum. At
first all seemed to go well with Gordon and his
purposes, and his reports were cheerful and
sanguine. But as the spring and then the
summer came on, untoward events took place,
and the prospect of his success became
constantly more doubtful. Berber fell into
the hands of the Mahdi's adherents, and
so Khartoum was cut off from communi-
cation with Cairo by the Nubian desert ;
and gradually but steadily the swarming

ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 8 1

legions of the Mahdi closed around Khar-
toum itself.

Gordon appealed to England for help, and
when help did not come he loudly denounced
the English cabinet for their dilatoriness and
vacillation. Ere long the fact became clear
that not only was Gordon unable to withdraw the
Khartoum or any other garrison, but that he
himself could not get away from the beleaguered
town at the junction of the two Niles. A long
period of hesitation and unsettled policy on the
part of the Gladstone cabinet ensued. A des-
perate hope was clung to that something might
yet happen to avoid the necessity of sending out
a rescuing force. The cabinet drifted among
daily changing counsels. Meanwhile Gordon's
situation became constantly more precarious,
and at last the pressure of overwhelming public
opinion, and the obligation of national honor,
compelled the cabinet to take decisive action.

Late in the autumn of 1884 ^ British army
under General Lord Wolseley (who had won
his peerage at Tel-el-Kebir) , was despatched
to the Soudan for the avowed purpose of

82 ENGLAND IN EGYPT.

rescuing Gordon and relieving Khartoum.
Two routes were open by which the army
might reach the scene of action : one by way
of the Red Sea to Suakin, and thence by
the desert route of 240 miles to Berber on the
Nile, and by the Nile to Khartoum ; the other
directly up the Nile to the great bend or loop
made by the river at Dongola, thence by the
Bayuda desert across to Shendy, and so by
river to the Soudanese capital. The latter
route was at last chosen ; and after a difficult
and wearisome passage up the Nile Lord
Wolseley with his troops established head-
quarters at Korti, a short distance south of
Dongol^.

The plan of Lord Wolseley's campaign was
quickly developed. While remaining himself
at Korti he decided to send two forces on
separate lines of advance. Not only Khartoum,
but Berber, was in the hands of the Mahdi's
adherents, and it seemed necessary that Berber
as well as Khartoum should be rescued by the
English. Accordingly General Earle was de-
spatched with a force of about 2,500 men up

ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 83

the great bend of the Nile, with a view of
attacking and reducing Berber ; while General
Stewart, with a force of about the same
numerical strength, took up his march east-
ward across the Bayuda desert, with the intent
to strike the Nile opposite Shendy. The
distance traversed by Stewart over this desert
is about 200 miles.

The main interest of the campaign centred
upon Stewart's expedition. It was more
perilous and difficult than that of Earle up the
river, and it aimed more directly at the principal
object of the English in the Soudan, — the rescue
of Gordon. The march across the desert was
conducted with masterly skill. Twice Stewart
and his well-disciplined troops were assailed by
great numbers of Arabs, first at Abu Klea wells,
and then a few miles further east, and on both
occasions the enemy were thoroughly routed.
After a march of a little over a week Stewart's
force came in sight of the Nile and established
their camp at Gubat, on its left bank, a short
distance south of Metemmeh. The camp was
well fortified, and successive convoys soon

84 ENGLAND IN EGYPT.

supplied it with an abundance of supplies and
ammunition.

The next step was to communicate if
practicable with Gordon at Khartoum. The
river above Gubat, though difficult, seemed
at least possible for navigation. It was de-
termined to despatch two steamers, which
had been sent down the river some time
before by Gordon, to the Soudan capital,
under the command of Sir Charles Wilson.
Sir Charles accordingly set forth on his ad-
venturous voyage on January 24, 1885. As the
steamers passed up the Nile they were as-
sailed by the Arabs who lined the banks, and
who maintained a heavy fire on the steamers,
in some places using Krupp guns. On Janu-
ary 28 Sir Charles found himself opposite the
island of Tuti, just north of Khartoum. No
sooner had his steamers made their appearance,
however, than a hot fire opened upon them,
both from Tuti and from Omdurman and
Khartoum. It then became startlingly appar-
ent that Khartoum had fallen into the hands
of the Mahdi.

KHARTOUM AND ENVIRONS.

ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 85

Sir Charles boldly pushed up stream, in the
midst of a deadly rifle-fire, to within a mile
of the city itself. He saw the Mahdi's flag
floating from its ramparts, and swarms of
the Mahdi's followers going about in its
streets. He then ordered his steamers to
retreat down the river, which they did under
a shower of bullets. When they reached the
sixth cataract one of the steamers was hope-
lessly wrecked among the rocks, and its men
and stores were with difficulty transferred to
the other steamer. Soon after, the other
steamer was also wrecked below the Shab-
luka cataract, and Sir Charles was forced to
land witli his party on a sandy island, whence
he sent row-boats to Gubat with tlie intelli-
gence of the fall of Khartoum and of his own
perilous plight. Boats were at once despatched
to his rescue, and the expedition soon reached
the English camp in safety.

Khartoum had fallen on January 26, two
days before the arrival of Sir Charles Wilson's
steamers. It appeared that certain Arabs
within the city — the chief of whom was one

86 ENGLAND IN EGYPT,

Farag Pasha — had betrayed the garrison, and
while warning the soldiers to keep watch on
the defences at one end of the city had opened
the gates to the Mahdi and his adherents at
the other end. Gen. Gordon himself had
been killed in the street in the meUe which
followed, and a large part of the garrison had
been cruelly massacred. The Mahdi had
long held Omdurman, a fortified place on the
banks of the White Nile, opposite Khartoum ;
and it was from this place that he had crossed
the river, and had availed himself of the treach-
ery of Farag and his confederates.

The Stewart expedition had thus been too
late to "effect the rescue for which an Eng-
lish army had come to the Soudan. General
Stewart himself, moreover, had been wounded
at Abu Klea, and soon after the return of
Wilson, died. Earle's expedition up the
great bend of the Nile was still pressing for-
ward towards Abu Hamed. But in a great
battle with the Arabs, which took place soon
after. General Earle was also killed. Lord
Wolseley had now lost his two principal lieu-

ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 8'J

tenants ; and although the troops in both expe-
ditions had fought with heroic gallantry, and had
endured extraordinary hardship with unfaltering
patience, it now became evident that to pursue
an active campaign in either direction would be
futile. The next phase of the war, therefore,
was the retreat of both expeditions across the
desert and down the river, until once more
Wolseley's entire force had gathered in his camp
at Korti. Wolseley then transferred his head-
quarters to Dongola for the summer, and the
Nile campaign came to an end.

The scene of the war was now shifted to
Suakin on the Red Sea. The British cabi-
net resolved that while Wolseley lay through
the hot weather on the Nile, in inaction, an
attempt should be made to effect the only
object which now remained — the reduction
of Khartoum and the defeat of the Mahdi —
by the Suakin-Berber route. It was decided
to build a railway across the desert from
the Red Sea to the Nile, with its termini
at Suakin and Berber. But Osman Digna,
whom Sir Gerald Graham had apparently

88 ENGLAND IN EGYPT,

SO effectually crushed the year before, had
recovered strength and confidence by the
fall of Khartoum, and now infested the
neighborhood of Suakin with a formidable
force. Once more Graham was despatched
with troops — among whom was a contingent
of Indian Sikhs — to confront his old foe.
A series of battles was fought in the region
of Tamai, where the victories of a year
before had been won. The English victories
were not as decisive as they had before been ;
yet the result of them seems to have been
discouraging to the Arab chief.

At this juncture the English government at
last can:fe to a decided resolution. It was deter-
mined to abandon altogether the attempt to
recapture Khartoum, to withdraw the troops
from the Nile valley, to stop work on the
Suakin-Berber railway, and to leave only
a small garrison at Suakin. So all opera-
tions in the Soudan came to an end, and the
chapter of that part of the English interfer-
ence in Egypt, which related to the Soudan,
was closed. Meanwhile the death of the

ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 59

Mahdi, and the struggle among rival chiefs
for the command which he vacated, brought
demoralization to the savage insurgents,
and they ceased to threaten Egypt proper
with any formidable menace. Osman Digna,
the ablest of the Mahdi's generals, appears
to have been killed in the late summer
of 1885, and thus the Soudanese revolt
lost the last of its able and conspicuous
chiefs.

The certainty that General Gordon's life
had been sacrificed profoundly shocked and
saddened not only England but all of the
Christian world, which had fixed its atten-
tion and its admiration on the hero of Khar-
toum. This feeling was universal, as well
with those who sympathized with the effort
of the Soudanese to repel the foreign in-
vader, as with those who wished well to
the English arms. The spectacle of the
valiant, self-forgetful, solitary soldier, staying
for a year by his own might the waves of
revolt ; ready to ransom the lives of his
black people by his own blood ; matching

90 ENGLAND IN EGYPT,

his brave soul, in solitude and abandonment,
against the daily dangers which beset the
garrison and the people he was struggling
to save ; faithfid every moment to his des-
perate task ; and leaving a name, brightest,
like the setting sun, at its sinking out of
sight — deeply and impressively touched the
heart of all mankind.

The most recent feature of the Egyptian
situation is an international settlement of Egyp-
tian finances. England, unwilling any longer
to be solely responsible for the debts of Egypt,
called together a conference of the great powers,
which was held in London in the summer of
1884. Xhe powers were not averse from as-
suming a joint responsibility with England in
guaranteeing a new Egyptian loan ; but there
was a disagreement as to the method of adjust-
ing the Egyptian revenue, and the conference
dissolved without taking any action. Then
England sent the Earl of Northbrook to Cairo
to investigate the financial condition ; and on
receiving his report reopened negotiations with
the powers on the subject.

ENGLAND IN EGYPT. 91

The final result was, that an agreement was
arrived at by England, France, Austria, Ger-
many, Russia and Turkey, in March, 1885, by
which a loan of $45,000,000 is to be raised on
their joint guarantee ; England is to make search-
ing inquiry into the Egyptian revenue ; foreigners
in Egypt (hitherto exempt) are to be taxed ;
the sum of $1,575,000 is to be paid in yearly
until the loan is completed ; and the interest is
to be a first charge on the revenues assigned to
the debt. The supervision of this loan is left to
a committee, or caisse^ composed of delegates
of the several powers. At the same time a sub-
commission was appointed to consider and re-
port on an international compact securing the
freedom and neutrality of the Suez canal, and
establishing rules as to the use of the canal in
time of war. At the time of writing, this sub-
commission has not concluded its labors.

In spite, however, of this entrance of all the
powers into a joint interference in Egyptian
finance, and whatever may be the fate of the
Soudan, England's political grip on Egypt
proper remains as firm, and seems as likely to be

92 ENGLAND IN EGYPT,

indefinitely prolonged, as ever. Above all, in
view of a war certain, sooner or later, to take
place between England and Russia in the East,
it is necessary for England to retain control of
the land through which the Suez canal takes its
course, even although the use of that water-way
becomes subject to international restrictions.
Gibraltar is the gateway between the Atlantic
and the Mediterranean. Egypt, by reason of the
Suez canal, has become the gateway between
the Mediterranean and the Asiatic waters. Eng-
land holds the one, and politically dominates
the other. By Gibraltar she secures unresisted
access to the historic sea which has for so many
centuries . formed the water-way by which to
approach southern Europe. By the control of
Egypt, and so in a certain sense at least of the
Suez canal, the Mediterranean has ceased to
be for English merchantmen and men-of-war
a cul-de-sac^ and has become an outlet and
highway to the rich territories over which
England holds sway in the Orient.

In brief, England is in Egypt mainly for the
same reason that she has so long resisted the

ENGLAND IN EGYPT, 93

capture of Constantinople by Russia ; that she has
jealously watched the encroachments of Russia
in Asia Minor and Central Asia ; that she has
propped and bolstered up the tottering empire
of the Turk ; that she has everywhere, and at
a cost of millions of money and thousands of
brave soldiers, guarded the approaches from
Europe to Asia : England is in Egypt mainly
because England is in India. She has long
feared that the day would come — and it seems,
indeed, to be not far distant — when she must
fight a mighty conflict in order to hold against
her Tartar and Cossack rival her splendid
Indian dependency ; and it is probable that,
when the conflict comes, the troops of England,
overleaping all restrictions, will hasten by the
Suez canal to the Orient, there to meet face to
face, in the gorges of Afghanistan and perhaps
in the valley of the Indus, the invading legions
of the White Czar.